Joined: 29 Jan 2013Posts: 1107Location: Chamber of the House of Lords, Palace of Westminister

Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 9:30 pm Post subject:

Considering he has that expression on his face in a lot of strips, including, I believe, quite a few of the strips with Fuchsia, I wouldn't say it really shows anything more than Crim's normal placidity.

And he's been a member of the resistance ever since the first Matriarchy-world strip.

Mind, this is an alternate universe in which a Matriarchy exists in place of the Patriarchy.

The fact that Crim stays silent in BOTH panels where he appears (including the one where he and Squig are asked a direct question and only Squig answers, loudly enough for both of them) does suggest that he's a little bit on the uncomfortable/unwilling side, to me.

Of course, this raises an interesting subject, because silence, while better than outright compliance, is still functionally the same. We, the readers, have known Crim for hundreds of strips, and even with this often omniscient insight into his personality we still can't tell for sure what he's feeling here. Were I a woman overhearing this conversation, I would definitely not distinguish much between the people telling outright misogynistic stories or jokes and the people laughing or sitting silently.

The fact that Crim stays silent in BOTH panels where he appears (including the one where he and Squig are asked a direct question and only Squig answers, loudly enough for both of them) does suggest that he's a little bit on the uncomfortable/unwilling side, to me.

Of course, this raises an interesting subject, because silence, while better than outright compliance, is still functionally the same. We, the readers, have known Crim for hundreds of strips, and even with this often omniscient insight into his personality we still can't tell for sure what he's feeling here. Were I a woman overhearing this conversation, I would definitely not distinguish much between the people telling outright misogynistic stories or jokes and the people laughing or sitting silently.

Idk, partly I agree because I think he should be speaking up but I also know how scary it is to speak up in these sort of situations. My interpretation has pretty much always been that Crim didn't really agree with Slick and Squig but due to social anxiety and fear of them ditching him (especially when he wasn't with Fusch) was too scared to say anything. If he's anything like me he's sitting there thinking about how best to call people out without making them hate him, then by the time he's worked up the courage the conversation has moved on to something different and the whole thing would just be awkward, so he just stares at the ground and hopes other people somehow pick up on his discomfort and change their behaviour.

I've tried a few times to say something when people have said something ___ist in pretty much the most polite way possible and I usually just get ignored or brushed off in this way that implies "if you continue with this we will consider you the fun police and begin to dislike you". That is, like I said above, if I don't completely miss the window of opportunity altogether. I just empathise with Crim's position is what I'm saying.